About Andie Levine

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Alternative living styles are all the rage world wide. People are converting buses to mobile homes, the rise in the popularity of the tiny house, and converted vans and RV’s are all gaining allure as viable living alternatives. Couples, families, and women and men on their own are taking to these lifestyles. They give people a kind of versatility that they might not have if they lived more traditionally.

RV’s are emerging as a favorite choice for so many. And it is to those people who choose to go solo that this post is dedicated. Living alone and being on the road has all kinds of risks that living in community doesn’t. The adage that “there is safety in numbers” holds true here.

The video sourced here from YouTube will lay them out for you but I would like to touch on some of the ones that hadn’t even occurred to me.

Always give the impression that there is more than one of you living in the RV. You can do this very simply. When you go to sit outside and take in the sun and the beautiful views, put at least two chairs outside your RV. And put a jacket on the back of one of the chairs and a drink nearby. Next, when retiring at night and putting your muddy shoes out to dry off, get a second pair of shoes the size of a man’s hiking boot and put it next to yours. It’s such a simple thing but can really be a deterrent.

This may seem more obvious, but make sure you keep your mobile phone right by your bed, and that you have service where you are. And know how to describe your location so that you are easily located. Also be aware of other campers and make sure you can reach them if you need to. Get a loud whistle to call for help.

And perhaps most important…get a dog! Apart from providing companionship, a dog that barks when others approach your RV, is another great deterrent. Give your new friend some time to get used to the fact that your RV is your new home and his protective instincts will soon kick in. I guarantee that this one safety tip will make you feel comfortable if you are RVing on your own.

RVing on your own can be a very Zen experience and a fabulous adventure! Just stay aware of your surroundings and other people and take some safety precautions and just may have the time of your life!

Living an alternative lifestyle has become a world-wide movement. More and more people want smaller spaces, more simple living, less clutter, and most of all to be mobile, to be able to take their homes on the road. A tiny house on a trailer is one popular way to accomplish this, but no alternative is as popular as the RV.

Many people are reluctant to give up their creature comforts though, and as a result these folks go for bigger and more luxurious RV’s. If you have the money to spend, there is no shortage of luxury RV’s, and they can be as opulent as you wish them to be. You need not give up any of the modern conveniences to have a home to go. Your communal living space can be almost as large and comfy as in a traditional home. You can make your bathroom a spa to retreat to to pamper yourself. Your bedroom can be your own personal haven where you can unwind and rejuvenate. Your kitchen can have state-of-the-art appliances and be the hub of your home and your RV can be large enough for overnight guests and all types of entertaining.

Sit outside with your friends and family to enjoy the views you choose, or in inclement weather be cozy and dry inside your luxury RV. The images in our gallery are from Pinterest and can be enlarged on our site. The interiors are meant to excite and inspire, and give you some beautiful ideas for interior design. Source material is also courtesy of Pinterest.

The Tiny House Movement is quite the world wide phenomenon. So many people desire to downsize and simplify their lives, live in less clutter and be real home owners. Owning the traditional sized home usually requires a mortgage and monthly payments, and with a tiny house you can own your own home and live mortgage-free. But one of the most attractive features of living in a tiny home is that you can put it on wheels and go when the mood hits you. Here are a few reasons why being able to travel with your tiny house is such an advantage.

You Do Not Want To Own Property

If living more carefree is your thing you don’t want to be tied to a piece of land. Property taxes and being stuck in one location mean you can’t just get up and go. Putting your tiny house on wheels is the only solution to this dilemma.

You Want New Views Out Your Windows

If you easily tire of being in one location and want to see new places often, then having your tiny house completely mobile is for you. You can live in a tiny house community for a while, and then go more rural and solitary if you wish. Changing location is one of the most alluring parts of having your tiny house on wheels.

You Travel A Lot For Business

If your job requires that you be on the road for long periods of time the idea of packing and and unpacking constantly may not be too appealing. With a mobile tiny house you can take home with you and have all you need right there in familiar surroundings. That makes coming home from a difficult business meeting a time of peace and relaxation.

You Want To Avoid Zoning And Building Regulations

Your tiny house on wheels is not considered legally a house. You must register it with Motor Vehicles but you can manage to get around all the municipality regulations of a particular town.

If You Like Meeting New People

There is nothing more stimulating to your mind, heart, and soul than engaging with all different kinds of people. If you enjoy good conversation and happy times with friends, having a tiny house that is on wheels so that you can experience a lot of different folk is just the thing. You might just make casual acquaintances into strong relationships.

You Can Easily Move If Necessary

If suddenly for some reasons it becomes a necessity for you to move, a tiny house on wheels makes that no problem at all.

When you travel with your tiny house you have the best of all worlds. You can visit new places, see new sites, and make new friends, with your home with you all the time. There is nothing quite like being in strange surroundings and still being able to come home whenever you want to. Traveling with your tiny house can be a real adventure!

No matter what kind of home you live in – traditional, Craftsman, a tiny house, modular, prefab – it doesn’t matter, we all want to bring the outside in. Whether you add indoor plants, weekly floral bouquets, or an indoor herb garden, bringing Nature inside warms your home and adds pops of color. Skylights do the same thing with the added advantage of adding window light and also saving you much needed energy. Just imagine taking a bath or shower in moonlight, or having your morning coffee in a beautiful sunrise. You can do all this indoors with added skylights.

Adding skylights also saves you energy. Using natural light cuts your energy costs, and adds to your overall energy efficiency. Also with an electric venting skylight you can create what is known as a “passive air conditioner” and keep your home cool during the hot summer months.

It seems that homes are being built more close together these days, and in rooms where there may not be a window, you can use a skylight to bring in natural light while still maintaining your privacy. Many bathrooms are built now with interior walls and no windows, so adding a skylight provides much needed light without compromising privacy.

It is quite liberating to keep off your electric lights because you have skylights in your hallway or kitchen. Even on cloudy days, the amount of energy you save with a skylight can be very considerable. And you can be outside while remaining safely inside on rainy days. Natural light illuminates even in inclement weather. There is nothing as lovely as feeling like you are outside when you must be indoors.

So adding skylights to your home can do double duty – you increase access to natural light while also saving energy. You can be part of the solution to increasing energy efficiency on the planet. So don’t add more windows. Add some skylights!

The Tiny House Movement has become a world wide phenomenon – even a sort of revolution. People are getting fed up with the expense and waste of living large, and long to simplify and downsize their lives and take a deep breath from the release of letting unnecessary things go. A lot of those considering a tiny house are mainly concerned about the things they must give up to live tiny. Things like space and storage, sentimental “stuff’ and clothing. But creative designers and new tiny house home owners are using their imaginations to find ways around these perceived sacrifices, and coming up with clever ideas for storage and arrangement.

Drawers can be found in stairs, under beds and bed platforms, and behind sliding doors. Pull out storage for towels and other items in bathrooms appears in spaces between walls and showers, and spice racks in spaces between walls and refrigerators. A couch can have storage under the seating, and sliding doors enclosing a bathroom can have shelves for books and accessories. Closets can be hidden in walls and under staircases.

Of course to convert to tiny house living you must let go of certain things. Clothes you don’t really wear, books already read, You need to choose your accessories deliberately and with care. But this kind of “letting go” can teach you a valuable lesson. It makes you choose what means the most to you. It teaches you to be discerning. It teaches you about the things that really matter to you. It makes you have to decide the differences between what you really need and what you just want. The images below are intended to serve as inspirations, and to stimulate your creativity and cleverness. They also ask you to choose. And making choices can be the most difficult thing to do.

All images below are courtesy of Pinterest and can be enlarged on the website.

Living tiny and the Tiny House Movement has become a world wide phenomenon. More and more people want to downsize their lifestyles and live in less clutter and more simply. There are a variety of reasons why people are attracted to the tiny house, but for Dee Williams who is shown in the images below it became a question of what “fit” her at a certain time in her life. After spending some time in South America, she returned to her 2,000 square foot house and felt out of place. It no longer felt like her. She knew she had to scale down her life and let go of a lot of “stuff”, and she was ready to say goodbye to some of the things that she had previously thought mattered so much. So, all on her own and with a lot of used and recycled materials, she built an 84 square foot tiny house for $10,000, which included $5,000 for thermal windows.

Dee now lives in a friend’s backyard in her solar powered home that has no running water completely care-free, and free of all the things that she was able to give up. Her homestead is her dear friend’s back yard, and she feels she wants for nothing. Her tiny house is also on wheels so she is able to travel with it, though she has stayed put for a few years. Dee thinks that living tiny gives you unique perspective on what really matters to you and forces you to think outside the box. She believes that anything she needs is happily contained within her 84 square feet.

Micro-homesteading in such a small space is, of course, not for everyone. But for people like Dee Williams, they have found a perfect solution to what might have been an overwhelming problem. I think once you have a look at the video linked below you might begin to think tiny.

With the huge variety of materials available to home builders these days, we are rather spoiled for choice. But we can narrow down those choices when we takes into consideration the site we have chosen to put the home on, and the weather conditions that exist in the chosen area. More and more people are choosing steel framed homes because of its versatility, its strength, and the fact that when combined with other materials it is incredibly energy efficient.

Steel framed homes are extremely durable and, as they are preconstructed at a manufacturing plant, they can be put together on site so much more quickly than traditional building methods. The durability of steel means that it requires much less maintenance of your home over the years, and steel can easily be recycled so there is hardly any construction waste attached to a steel framed building. The prevalence of steel use in building construction means that the cost of using steel is less than in traditional wood framed homes and and so is insurance on steel framed homes.

Another big advantage to using steel frame construction is its resistance to termites, high winds, and snow loads. This is not only a safety issue and makes your home more protected, but is also a great money saver. The repairs on a steel frame constructed home are so much less than on any other type of construction. The variations of style with steel framed homes are many. Really, anything goes with steel. It is very pliant in manufacturing and can take any shape, so if you long for a bay window, you can have it.

So, if you are considering a new home, give some serious thought to using steel frames. They are cost effective, and can be erected on your site in a short time.

All images, including the featured image are courtesy of Pinterest and can be enlarged.

When we decorate and accessorize our homes there are certain areas that immediately come to mind: tables, mantles, the four walls, counters, furniture, and the floor. But what about your ceilings? They are too often overlooked as just necessary space and not given the attention they deserve. Trending for Fall in 2017 is creating interest on your ceilings. And when I say interest, I don’t just mean using a fun color paint, although that is certainly one of the ways to decorate ceilings and a very popular option. But many people put on their creative hats and really go at it. Famous paintings are being recreated, people who can draw are quite literally stretching their art on their ceilings. People are using tiles made of different materials like tin and Styrofoam, medallions, decals, stencils, and found objects. Ceilings are even becoming sculptural.

Anything goes when it comes to decorating your ceilings. Ceilings have become a new accessory in many otherwise neutral rooms. A fifth wall to put that splash of color, interesting textures, and a wide variety of designs. For a long time the bedroom was the only room in a home where the ceiling got attention. But now any room’s ceiling has possibilities. Even the ceilings in your basic white hallway are getting design and color and texture. The featured image with the different license plates is a very fun and unique way to bring interest to a ceiling, and whoever thought of it was definitely thinking outside the box.

Decorating your ceiling can be a great way to spend the weekend, and use your imagination and creative self. And it doesn’t have to be an expensive project. This can be your way of customizing your home even more and a wonderful expression of who you are. Leaving your own personal stamp on your home speaks volumes about your sense of humor, your sense of style, and your taste. Don’t neglect your fifth wall. It cries out for your attention.

All the images in this article, including the featured image are courtesy of Pinterest, as is the source material. The images can be enlarged on the website.

When the wish for an added room in your home grabs you, but you have neither the resources nor the time, think about creating a patio as an outdoor oasis and your extra room. Whether you like to sun yourself. or relax under the stars, a patio is your home’s ideal extension. And the beauty of a patio is that you can create one on a budget, as a DIY project, or hire a contractor. Patio floors can be wood, natural stone, pavers, Mexican tiles or painted concrete.

Furniture can be flea market finds or store-bought sofas. Plants are a cost-saving way to add color and texture to a patio without breaking the bank. Small all-weather rugs create added interest. You can feature a home-made fountain or a fire pit for your pleasure and relaxation. The options are endless, and creating this outdoor room can be simple and fun.

If you enjoy entertaining, patios are a wonderful way for guests to spill out of living rooms and dens, and get a breath of fresh air. For shade build a roof over your patio, or put up an awning that can be used or not for added comfort during the daytime. You don’t need an in-ground pool to cool off. Hang curtains for privacy and beauty. No matter your budget, you can create a luxury oasis in your backyard just by adding a patio. It is the extra room you could not add to your house, and provides additional space for parties, and social gatherings. This is something you, your friends, and family can all enjoy.

The images below and resources are all courtesy of Pinterest and can be enlarged.

Modern style decor is the epitome of clean lines, monochromatic color palettes, and an uncluttered look. Not everyone goes for this style of decor because they believe it to be too cold and impersonal. But the modern style is far from cold and impersonal. With the occasional splash of color and warm neutral tones, this can be very inviting and cozy. Modern style furniture is not hard nor is it uncomfortable. A variety of textures and hues can be very welcoming for you and your guests and family. A soft throw tossed on a sleek sofa, begs you to sit down.

That touch of red on a pillow in a grey room, adds excitement and drama. The stainless steel kitchen appliances do not say “industrial”, but that it is a clean and efficient work space. A platform bed can be as comfy as a four-poster bed.

Neutral, and monochromatic color palettes are the hallmark of the modern style. They keep rooms from looking messy and cluttered, and have a calming effect on people. The simple lines, and the clean feel to modern style rooms create a peaceful ambiance that most folks enjoy. There is also a lightness to modern style decor that other styles don’t have. The heavy quality that more traditional styles possess, can sometimes be oppressive. Too many knick-knacks, too many colors and patterns in fabrics can often be overwhelming.

The images below are meant to be inspirational and to help you in finding your particular modern style. All images and resource material are courtesy of Pinterest and the pics can be enlarged.